On the Boundary
On the Boundary
Original Text
Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, ed. A.G. Stephens
(Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1897): 52.
Internet Archive. Sydney Electronic Text and Image Service (SETIS),
digital text sponsored by AustLit: http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/oztexts
1I love the ancient boundary-fence--
3When I go ride the boundary
4 I let the old horse jog,
5And take his pleasure in and out
6 Where sandalwood grows dense,
7And tender pines clasp hands across
8 The log that tops the fence.
9'Tis pleasant on the boundary-fence
10 These sultry summer days;
11A mile away, outside the scrub,
12 The plain is all ablaze.
13The sheep are panting on the camps--
14 The heat is so intense;
15But here the shade is cool and sweet
16 Along the boundary-fence.
17I love to loaf along the fence:
18 So does my collie dog:
19He often finds a spotted cat
20 Hid in a hollow log.
21He's very near as old as I
22 And ought to have more sense--
24 Along the boundary-fence.
25My mother says that boundary-fence
26 Must surely be bewitched;
27The old man says that through that fence
28 The neighbours are enriched;
29It's always down, and through the gaps
30 Our stock all get them hence--
31It takes me half my time to watch
32 The doings of that fence.
33But should you seek the reason
34 You won't travel very far:
35'Tis hid a mile away among
37The Jones's block joins on to ours,
38 And so, in consequence,
39It's part of Polly's work to ride
40 Their side the boundary-fence.
Notes
2] chock-and-log: a type of fence often used on Australian stations (ranches), laying logs lengthwise upon short, thick notched pieces of wood to make a fence four or five logs high that creates essentially a low wooden wall. Back to Line
23] hammered: worked hard. Back to Line
36] belar: A casuarina tree, often known as the swamp she-oak, native to the east coast of Australia. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1892
Publication Notes
The Bulletin, March 12, 1892.
RPO poem Editors
Cameron La Follette
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form